Posts filed under ‘Manufacturing’
1/24: Winnebago layoffs upcoming
Market conditions will force worker layoffs at Winnebago Industries, company spokeswoman Sheila Davis said Wednesday.
She said the number of employees to be laid off is unavailable, as officials at the motor home manufacturer are “still evaluating current labor requirements and future forecasted needs.”
Winnebago Industries is North Iowa’s largest employer, with a total of 3,300 workers at plants in Forest City, Charles City and Hampton.
1/24: unrelated SV Probe layoffs
Yesterday, we had another round of layoffs at work. This was the second one in the past 4 months and the third overall since SV Probe, Inc. acquired Kulicke & Soffa in November 2006.
“As a result of continuing softness in order rates in the second quarter and a difficult outlook in the months ahead, the company today has completed a reduction in force in our Santa Clara manufacturing operations. While regrettable, this action was necessary to further align our operations with the market requirements for our standard cantilever and vertical products.”
The second is the result of the company’s direction to move the majority of the manufacturing overseas to our Vietnam facility. With this change in philosophy, all the layoffs yesterday were from the manufacturing department. I heard that a total of 21 people were released. Considering our facility has only about 60-70 people, the reduction in force was very significant.
1/24: Caliber Auto Transfer notifies employees of pending layoffs
Caliber Auto Transfer, which operates the center at 3101 N. TR 47, reportedly has notified some of its employees of their pending termination Feb. 20.
1/23 Layoffs to begin in April at Bristol Tennessee’s GlaxoSmithKline plant
GlaxoSmithKline will begin laying off workers at its pharmaceutical plant here in April, a company official said Tuesday.
The company plans to lay off all 236 people currently employed at its industrial park facility, then cease operations. Layoffs are scheduled to begin April 7 and be completed by Oct. 31, 2009, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification form filed with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
1/22: DHL to cut 200 in Germany
A DHL told the German newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung the carrier is considering the cutbacks in its express operation.
DHL may lay off up to 200 workers in Germany because cell phone manufacturer Nokia is closing a plant in the country.
Finland-based Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone company, says it plans to close the plant in Bochum, Germany, by the middle of the year, eliminating some 2,300 jobs. That prompted protests in Germany, but Nokia is cutting back there as it is expanding production at a new factory in Romania, which became part of the European Union a year ago.
1/22: National Semiconductor to layoff 200
National Semiconductor, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif., and employs 500 in South Portland, yesterday said it would eliminate 200 positions at its manufacturing facilities in a bid to modernize its systems, according to a press release.
Most of the job cuts will be at the company’s facilities in Texas and Scotland, but “a small number of positions” will be cut in South Portland, the release said. A spokesperson from National Semiconductor was not immediately available for comment.
1/19: WC Wood layoffs announced (65)
The layoffs affect approximately 65 workers, approximately half the total of new jobs created earlier this fall.
Officials at the plant had touted the expansion of 120 jobs with an expansion in 2007. Friday, those gains were partially halted with the announcement.
In addition to the those workers immediately impacted, other workers at the facility would be moving to different shifts, it was announced.
The WC Wood plant in Ottawa had approximately 300 employees before the layoffs were announced and has been at its Ottawa site for more than 15 years.
1/19 Regency Homes layoffs: 26
Regency Homes has dismissed 26 employees as Iowa’s largest home builder attempts to weather a slump that has settled in on the housing industry.
Harold Brandt, hired last month by the West Des Moines contracting firm to serve as its chief restructuring officer, said the cuts reached across the company, from clerical staff to supervisors.
Brandt said the cutbacks came after a review of all operations at Regency, which also builds and manages apartments and operates a commercial construction business.
1/18: Unrelated: GE to layoff 900 in Bloomington
General Electric refrigeration plant looks busy as usual. But by the end of 2009, the parking lot could be empty, the trucks will have dropped off their last load, and the gates could be closed for good.
Thursday, the company announced they are intending to close the Bloomington location. This announcement comes after GE reports a $45 million loss in 2007. Officials say profits this year aren’t expected to be any better. However, for the nearly 900 employees, all they know is they’re probably out of a job.
1/18 IDM Pharma of Irvine sets 60% layoffs
IDM Pharma of Irvine warned of layoffs. Now it has told the Securities and Exchange Commission that the job losses will affect about 60 percent of its work force, which could mean nearly 50 job losses between its sites in Irvine and France. It’s also looking for a company it can merge into.
1/18 Merillat to layoff 75
Housing slump blamed for layoffs at Merillat
Merillat, a Michigan-based cabinet manufacturing company, slashed 75 jobs in its Ocala branch, another effect of the soft housing and construction market. Merillat Communications Manager Jim Potthast said the mass layoff was the only step left to take.
1/18 Adams Aircraft to layoff 300
Centennial-based Adams Aircraft announced 300 layoffs.
A company spokesperson says the layoffs are in an effort to strengthen the long-term operations of the company. They encourage all team members to reapply for jobs when a ramping-up of manufacturing takes place.
In the meantime, executives are working to secure $75 million to $150 million in additional funding.
The Colorado Department of Labor has contacted Adams Aircraft and Aurora Loan Services to make sure they followed the provisions of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act or WARN.
1/16; Unrelated Catalent Pharma layoffs
Catalent Pharma Solutions, the maker of gel-caps for such popular drugs as Advil, is paring its St. Petersburg work force. The manufacturing plant off Roosevelt Boulevard was owned until April by Cardinal Health, when the division was acquired for $3.3-billion by the Blackstone Group. A Catalent spokesman said an unspecified number of layoffs were taking place in St. Petersburg because of an unanticipated change in demand for certain products.
Catalent’s St. Petersburg plant had about 600 employees before the layoffs; globally, Catalent has 10,000 employees at 30 facilities.
1/17 Unrelated Sybron, 70 layoffs
The Sybron chemical plant on Birmingham Road will shut down production in May, resulting in the layoffs of 90 workers, executives with the parent company announced yesterday.
1/16 Lavalley/Poole Bros. Layoffs
According to Lavalley Vice President of Stores John Hall in Damariscotta on Monday, “Everybody who listens to the news or reads the paper knows the housing market is way down and that’s what we are responding to: the business conditions.”
1/11 Maersk Lines to layoff 2000-3000 workers
Maersk Line is laying off 2,000 to 3,000 workers. The company is the container shipping division of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, the press release said.
The resulting news stories sent a shiver through some local folks biting nails over whether Maersk will decide to build a container shipping facility at Coos Bay. Reports indicated the huge shipping company’s decision to reorganize was due in part to the slump in U.S. trade.
1/9 Chrysler Machining; Layoffs to affect 230
Slow auto sales are taking their toll on another Toledo area auto factory, with 230 hourly workers to be laid off indefinitely Friday at Chrysler LLC’s Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg Township. Layoff notices were to be delivered by today to some of those affected, said Lee Bainter, president of United Auto Workers Local 1435 at the plant. The union represents about 1,370 hourly employees at the factory which makes torque converters and steering columns.
1/8: York Industries, to layoff 5 more
Layoffs of five salaried employees at Norman’s largest private employer could be followed by more if the national housing sector slowdown doesn’t improve, a York Industries executive said Monday.
“Like many other people in the residential housing industry, our volumes have deteriorated,” said Becky Payton, York Industries vice president of human resources.
1/8 Georgia-Pacific to shut plant, layoff 400
Georgia-Pacific will close its plywood and sawmill operations in Springhill indefinitely, resulting in the layoffs of approximately 400 employees.
The indefinite shutdown comes two months after 280 Georgia-Pacific workers in DeSoto Parish were left jobless when that plywood operation closed for good.
GP officials, who called the work shutdown in Springhill a “curtailing of operations,” said it was due to market conditions. Demand for wood products has declined due to downturns in residential housing construction.
